Summary

(Not) the last journey

His[1]
long life had brought him to a lot of different worlds already. There were the
ones that were simply round[2];
those were probably the most common there were. They could not be counted
because there were too many of them, but some of them were special. There was the
one that had existed for a long time[3]
and then vanished. Apparently, the creatures living on the “planet”, as the
called it, had not read a note informing them of the imminent destruction of
their homes for building an interstellar highway. Only the most intelligent of
species had managed to escape. Oh, and one member of the less intelligent ones that
had thought they were the most intelligent.[4]

There was
another one, in the shape of a ring. This one had been fun to stay on for a
while, but in the end, it got a bit dull. There were some others of that sort,
but none of them had been any more promising.

In some
remote corner of whatever universe that was he had come across a few other
worlds that he had previously taken for fairy tales. Those were disc-shaped,
supported by four elephants each that in turn stood on the back of a giant
turtle. What seemed odd that most of the creatures on the other worlds had in
some way or other described something like that already. Of all those worlds[5],
there was one which was vibrant with life of all sorts, full of magic and
apparently thoughtfully crafted by its creator. He spent a good deal of his
last years there and thoroughly enjoyed the experience. At one point, he had to
leave, though. He said the turtle good-bye and continued his travels through
time and space.

Eventually,
he ended up in a strange region he had never before seen. The structure he was
standing on could only be described as enormous, even to someone his size[6].
It looked just as boring as a lot of other worlds he had been to, but it was
different. The surface of the thing was grey. That was something that you could
get elsewhere, so it did not seem odd. Some of the parts deeper down were
white. Now, that was not the problem either. It was more the fact that it
looked so empty. On most other structures he had been to, there had been
something on the surface. Rocks, trees, animals, things without names, you name
it. Here, what was most striking was that there was practically nothing. The
only thing that could be noted was that the surface[7]
had little creeks in it. Some dents here and some folds there. Other than that,
there was nothing.

He had had
the impression, but it turned out not to be true. He found out that the thing
could be covered in about everything there was. There were openings in what on
other worlds would have been described as “the sky” that showed different
worlds. Creatures appeared and disappeared for no apparent reason. Worlds within
worlds were created, bloomed and crumpled to dust – and you could watch them.
You could zoom in to see the details, but you could also get an overview of everything
on a large scale. That thing was able to create
and it was able to destroy. He did
not know how, but that was what was happening. Things came and went, nothing
that was there yesterday could be taken for granted today[8].
But somehow, he could influence it. It had its moods, as odd as that may sound
for something so big, floating through spacetime, but even those could be
changed. What started out badly could end very much better or even worse. It
was not something fixed.

He
discovered that there was something like wells on that thing. If you dug deep
enough, you could get to the essence stored within, unfolding things that in
other universes would have been worlds by their own right, or even entire
universes. This thing was, by all means he had seen so far, the largest thing
there was, and it was bigger on the inside. It could host a myriad of universes
all full of worlds, and no two of them were the same. It could also be used to
look at the tiniest of things, all of its resources devoted to this one piece.
It was, if there ever was something like this, a wonder. He could not imagine
any creature having something like that at their disposal – the sheer
possibilities would have to get the owner of it close to insanity. If you had
more of one of those at your disposal, the things you could do would be
endless. You could do an end to all suffering and greed, but you could put an
entire universe to chaos as well. No creature that was ever to be would be able
to handle it.

So he had
found out, but since he had discovered it, the thing would not let him go. It
promised him sweet things (and it delivered) and it punished him enough to
wonder if everything went as planned. It never let him go, though.

So his
journey came to an end. The worlds he had visited lay behind him, an unlimited
amount of worlds before him. His journey went on. The thing that had captured
him was called “imagination”. He did not need anything else.

[1] I am using “His” to try and cope
with the lack of a better description. Each and every occurrence of “he/his”
could be replaced by “she/her” or “it/its” or whichever pronoun you happen to
prefer. It doesn’t matter. The entity described doesn’t need sex or gender.

[2] More or less

[3] Not for him, but you know what I am
up to…

[4] Which says something about their
being intelligent

[5] Since they seemed to replicate

[6] Not that the concept of “size“
could have been applied to him

[7] Which had a funny feeling to
it. Soft. But not comfortable.

[8] Ignoring the fact that “yesterday“
and “today“ did not really apply.

Did you enjoy my ongoing story so far? Please let me know what you think by leaving a review! Thanks,
Lucas Appelmann

Priscilla Eji:
The shifter's world series are sick, like mad dope, i simply can't wait for the next book in this series. So please hurry. Your book has a different concept to it which makes it so unique from all the other books i've read, i literally stayed up till 2am just reading them. Please don't stop writi...